That was about six months ago, our study for a design competition required a spatial allocation algorithm. An office building with a rectangular plot and a strict functional requirement forced me to the good old Voronoi diagrams, subdividing a surface. However, there were other design parameters such as the sunlight and orientations of each functional cell. Combining a couple of graph components helped me create diverse solutions later used in the functional-formal interpretation phase. Unfortunately, later on, the competition was…

This is the old-method Parametric Truss definition. Interestingly this quickly became a solid solution, used and taught for years. I couldn’t find a better answer yet. As Grasshopper updates, some of the components in this definition change but the overall structure remains. Subdivision of a free-form surface and addition of geometric components has, of course, a wide range of alternatives. Maybe we should combine this with different problems and solutions we’ve talked about earlier on this website. The same solution…

This is a rather traditional geometry exercise we used to make in MaxScript. Grasshopper is also quite capable of associative geometry and real-time parametric designs of objects. The exercise of designing a furniture family should be based on design research, followed by shape alternatives and sketches (both digital and hand), then might be finalized using this parametric design environment. However, the example presented here is one of the most simplistic solutions to furniture family. This may be further developed regarding…

In this experiment, I’m trying to use data recorder to change components on a surface. The component part is a standart triangular construction, but the attractor points are defined by a 2D slider that is connected to a data recorder. Data recorder remembers last 15 points, while you move the 2d slider, last 15 points are projected on the base surface. This creates an illusion as if a “snake” game on a surface. Definition then uses the closes point distance…

At the initial design phase of an apartment project in İstanbul, Nilüfer Kozikoğlu (TUŞPA Architecture) has offered me a job I haven’t done in Grasshopper before. This definition includes a sketch of a possible apartment renewal, analyzing and optimizing data from the contractor’s and property owners’ perspective. It also checks if the proposed solution is appropriate according to the building regulations for that area. In Turkish, KAKS means the maximum total floor area / land area, and TAKS means building…

The design of Chinese window lattices named “ice-ray” is one of the classic studies of Shape Grammars. It is an old and good example of algorithmic design. George Stiny explained their geometric construction based on the parametric Shape Grammars approach. He explained shape rules and the abstract machine that produces the subdivisions. I was especially interested in Shape Grammars when I was a graduate student. I even made a prototype tool for Shape Grammars in MaxScript. Here is another post…

Wow! Is this possible in Grasshopper? In order to start creating recursive algorithms in Grasshopper, I finally managed to run Hoopsnake, a special component developed by Yiannis Chatzikonstantinou. This will help me develop parametric models that include loops. The fundamental experiment here shows a surface subdivision based on iterations. We should define a starting object or data, an operation to be repeated, and a limit that will tell Hoopsnake to stop looping. In this condition, this is the area of…

This is another starting point for pattern generation study in a dataflow environment. I tried to implement the parquet deformation of Islamic patterns in Grasshopper. I studied Hankin’s method of Islamic Pattern generation. Then I tried to simulate his process beginning with basic regular tiling (regular hexagonal tessellation). Craig S. Kaplan (here) explains this and other methods in his dissertation. A Simple Foundation We have already experienced the result of exploding any hexagonal grid, shifting its points with the help…

This study includes three main topics related to the basics of Grasshopper. The first one is the surface subdivision, the parametric definition of a surface component, that is, in this case, a simple pyramidal object. The second thing is the associative behavior of surface components with an external parameter, that is another entity in space; a curve. Traditionally, this is simply demonstrated by The important thing here is to find a method to compare each object (here it is the…

Information Age has been transforming architecture, provoking its theoretical and methodological foundations. We might call this as a paradigm shift or not; it’s obvious that contemporary research fields and built practices lead architectural design into a certain revolution. Mainstream schools of design education are becoming more involved in this revolution, with a common purpose; the need to construct a logical connection between contemporary design theories utilizing methods called popularly as “digital architecture”, and all aspects and agents of a design…